Jazz
November, 1993
Jazz has never boasted many women instrumentalists, but they were there early on. Louis Armstrong's departure from King Oliver's group in 1924, for instance, came at the urging of his wife, Lil Hardin, who met Armstrong when she occupied the piano chair in the Oliver band. Yet in spite of a handful of important pianists--such as Marian McPartland, Mary Lou Williams and the bandleader Toshiko Akiyoshi--women have traditionally played second fiddle when it comes to the business of blowing an ax. S...
